DuPont reposted this
It’s easy to celebrate success, yet it takes strength and hard work to learn from failure. In the end, both lead to growth. And for our fearless DuPont innovators, Halloween is a perfect time for us to come together to commemorate DuPont Dead Projects Day, our annual celebration of learning from failure. Coinciding with TechCon, this year’s Dead Project’s Day, our 6th annual, gives us time to pause and reflect on our project “graveyard” and discover the resilience in moving forward on the path to success. I often say, “innovation is a journey, not a destination.” Every project, whether successful or not, offers us valuable insights and our strength comes from DuPont innovation teams from across the globe gathering in person (and virtually) to share their projects from the past and what they can teach us about shrinking the stigma of failure and learning how to make smarter choices for innovation and growth. Driving innovation forward is hard work -- it takes courage, vulnerability, and reflection to embrace the difficult choice to pivot, pause, or kill a project. The valuable insight I gleaned from all the presentations is that we need to constantly ask the difficult questions and pursue the critical pathways – desirability, feasibility and viability – to de-risk our projects and pursuits. Dead Projects Day inspires us to fall in love with growth, not projects. Let us honor our failures, capture the lessons, and turn learning into action to drive growth for our customers. A special thanks to all the brave innovators for sharing their stories, dressed in costume to celebrate this occasion. And to all of our DuPont colleagues for continuing to foster an inclusive community focused on learning, resilience and growth.